Letter from the Editor: OD N. 7 June 2025
By: Lauren Mouat. Published in Open Doors Issue N. 7 June 2025.
This issue, I would simply like to give thanks to the incredible group of people who have come together to make this magazine a reality for the 7th time since we began in the isolation of 2020. A thank you to our poetry editors Monica Sharp and Josi- ah Kaplan, our Italian editor Morgan Chiarella, and our art editor Luca Misuri. A big thank you also to our Spring FUA intern Charlotte Cicero whose vibrancy and energy were a great asset to the magazine and a delight to witness.
As always the community of writers sending in their work to the Open Doors Re- view continues to astound me in both quality of writing, subject matter and origins of our writers. We have authors in this issue from Italy, the US, Zimbabwe, and Australia. The topics of the pieces featured here range from modern art to Renais- sance politics, broken hearts to LGPTQIA+ rights, from ancient gods to modern day Italian laundromats. I hope as a reader, you will find something here to make you chuckle, wonder and think. I hope as a writer, you find something to inspire you.
Every era has its challenges. If you only read the news, we are a world at war with each other, with ourselves and with our very role as human beings and creators in the face of the AI revolution. I believe writing and art is a fundamental act of resis- tance to the feeling of apathy and powerlessness in the face of great global conflict and change. It is a reminder that creation and community are possible. To quote our featured author Flavia Brunetti: we must remember that “the things that bring us together are so much stronger than what keeps us apart.”
Open Doors Announcments
For our next issue we will have our first themed issue. To stay informed of when submissions reopen and what the theme will be, I invite you to subscribe to our monthly newsletter.
You can now become a digital subscriber to receive two annual publications of the Open Doors Review. This act of support is invaluable to us and to our growth as a publication which aims to bridge the gap between the English and Italian writing communities in Florence.
This month we are reading our second book for the Open Doors Review Book Club with myself and Alexandra Lawrence. Join us for the upcoming two Italian books in English!
The last few months have seen a burst of literary activity in and around Florence. A local newsletter publishing writing events in town has formulated into the Flor- ence Literary Society of which both myself and our poetry editor Monica Sharp are among the founding members. In honor of the return of an annual Publishing Day in Florence, our author interviews are focused on publishing. Early bird pricing for Publishing Day on October 25th, 2025 will close June 30th.
Stay tuned in the coming months for new publications, submission seminars, up- coming literary prizes and our theme for Issue 8.
Until then, keep writing.
-LTM
